Creation of New Europe (part 2 in the New Europe series)

In this post I will discuss the creation of New Europe. I will deal with the following issues:

  • Process of ascension into New Europe by candidates
  • Distribution of territory into provinces

Process of ascension into New Europe by candidates:

Before a candidate state can be absorbed into New Europe, it should at least meet the following criteria:

  1. The candidate state is geographically part of the European continent. We shall define these limits to be: the Ural mountains, the Caspian Sea from the Urals to the Caspian mountain range, the Caspian mountain range, the black sea between the Caspian mountains and the Bosporus, the Mediterranean sea, the Atlantic ocean. Islands in the Mediterranean sea and the north sea are included into the terrain which is eligible for ascension into New Europe.
  2. The candidate state is a democracy with an independent national bank and a free society.
  3. The candidate state has a state debt of less than 20% of tax income as measured when NE taxation policies are applied

The first step for a prospective candidate state is to organise a referendum in which the population of the candidate state will approve of ascension of the candidate state into NE  with a majority of at least 66%. Such a referendum should be observed by NE and its results should be approved by the observers for it to be considered a legit result. (No tampering allowed) If such a referendum fails, the prospective candidate state can apply again in 10 years, no sooner.

Once the referendum has indicated a positive result, the candidacy process can start. The candidate state will be a candidate for up to 10 years, to allow for harmonisation of the aconomic practices in order to make sure that the transition is smooth. During this time the state will be assessed and the transformation into a new territory will be executed. The assessment should see:

  • whether the candidate state has a comparable financial outlook as NE and what needs to be done to achieve similar levels
  • Find out what a suitable division into provinces should look like
  • Assess the corruption levels in these provinces.

Following the assessment, a series of improvement proposals will be offered to the candidate state legislature. These should focus on the equalisation of the standards on: Fiscal policy, educational policy, and, if necessary, the introduction of laicité. the harmonisation of social policies and tax policies. The initial audit will take up to 2 years. The remaining 8 years will be for implementing the harmonisation policies. Every 2 years an assessment will be held to monitor progress. At every audit, the process of ascension can be stopped by the NE if results indicate that targets cannot be met within the 10 year time frame. Realistically, given the fact that the referendum has to get a 66% vote, I expect the introspective capacities of a population as a whole will make sure that the transition will be smooth, as the population will surely see that too big a discrepancy will lead to a painful transition. During the harmonisation period, a campaign should be started to equalize the debt levels of the candidate state with that of NE. The same should be done for corruption levels.

Upon absorption into New Europe all lands and debts will be absorbed into the realm of New Europe. The citizens of the entrant state will gain citizenship of New Europe. It’s armies and military equipment will be absorbed into the army of NE and soldiers will have a choice to stay on or leave the army in search of a new occupation.

The distribution of gained territories into new provinces.

Upon ascension, the new territory will be split up into new provinces. These will each get their own government, legislature and judiciary. A capital will be appointed, but the province is free to move the capital if deemed appropriate. In certain cases it might be more appropriate to merge parts of the newly gained territory into existing provinces. Each province will not have intermediate levels of governance, but only have municipalities for the local government. The main function of these municipal governments is to make sure planning and similar local concerns are dealt with at the appropriate level of government.

The role of the provinces will be to administer the locality. For this they will have a limited form of self-governance, which will primarily deal with economic circumstances. At the same time, provincial politics within a province should not get out of touch with the common man. This ultimately dictates that the size of a province should be relatively small, yet be big enough to have a meaningful economy compared to the whole. Hence the phrase: “Big enough to matter, small enough to be local”. I haven’t exactly drawn up a map of what New Europe should look like if we’d take the current EU as a base, but I would like to propose a size comparable to roughly a quarter to half the size of a German state, or about two thirds of the average French region. The Netherlands would be cut up in roughly 3 new provinces. Each province would have its own government, legislature and judiciary. I will discuss the government and finances of NE and its provinces in detail in a later chapter of this series.

This is part 2 of a series on a new European state.
Click here for part 1.
Click here for part 3

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